ASHTORETH –
The name given in the Old Testament to the old Semitic mother-goddess, called in Phenicia, Ashtarte; in Babylonia, Ishtar; and in Arabia, Athtar. (For her worship among the Hebrews, see Astarte.) Ashtoreth is derived from...

ASTARTE WORSHIP AMONG THE HEBREWS –
Astarte as a Sphynx.(From Prisse d'Avennes, "Histoire de l'Art Egyptien.")Astarte is the Phenician name of the primitive Semitic mother-goddess, out of which the most important of the Semitic deities were developed. She was...

BATH-SHEBA –
Biblical Data: The daughter of Eliam (II Sam. xi. 3; but of Ammiel according to I Chron. iii. 5), who became the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and afterward of David, by whom she became the mother of Solomon. Her father is...

BLOOD-RELATIONSHIP –
Biblical Data: Family connection between persons otherwise than by marriage. To the casual reader of the Old Testament, blood-relationship seems always to have been reckoned by the Hebrews from father to son. The genealogies are...

BOAR, WILD –
In Psalm lxxx. 14 the wild boar is introduced in a metaphor and described as coming out of the wood to root up the vine. Wild hogs have always been known in Palestine.Richard Cœur de Lion is said to have had an encounter with a...

CALEB –
Biblical Data: According to the Biblical text, Caleb was of the tribe of Judah. He represented that tribe among the twelve spies whom Mosessent from the wilderness to spy out Canaan. He and Joshua alone brought back an...

CALEB –
Biblical Data: According to the Biblical text, Caleb was of the tribe of Judah. He represented that tribe among the twelve spies whom Mosessent from the wilderness to spy out Canaan. He and Joshua alone brought back an...

CALEBITES –
A branch of the Edomite clan of Kenaz (compare Judges i. 12 with Gen. xxxvi. 11, 15, 42) that, before the Israelitish conquest, had migrated to southern Judah and settled in the vicinity of Hebron. They appear to have entered...

CALF, GOLDEN –
Biblical Data: A portable image overlaid with gold, made by Aaron at Mount Sinai (Ex. xxxii.). As the text stands, it narrates how Moses had gone up into the mountain to receive the Ten Words, and remained forty days. When the...

CALF, GOLDEN –
Biblical Data: A portable image overlaid with gold, made by Aaron at Mount Sinai (Ex. xxxii.). As the text stands, it narrates how Moses had gone up into the mountain to receive the Ten Words, and remained forty days. When the...

CALF-WORSHIP –
Critical View: Among the Hebrews, as among the other agricultural Semites, the bull was associated with deity in a sacred character (see Ox). The form in which this thought found expression in Israel was in their representation...

CHEMOSH –
The national god of the Moabites. He became angry with his people and permitted them to become the vassals of Israel; his anger passed, he commanded Mesha to fight against Israel, and Moabitish independence was reestablished...

CHIUN –
A word occurring in connection with "Siccuth" in Amos v. 26. Scholars have long been puzzled to know whether in this passage they are common nouns or proper names. "Siccuth" is probably the Assyrian "Sakkut" (Schrader, "K. A....

DIBLAH –
According to the Masorah and Septuagint, which the R. V. follows, "Diblah" is the name of a place mentioned in Ezek. vi. 14. No place of this name corresponding with the requirements of the passage is known. J. D. Michaelis...

DOEG –
Biblical Data: An Edomite; chief of the herdsmen of Saul. When David, warned by Jonathan, fled from Saul to the priest Abimelech at Nob, he found Doeg there. On pretense of being on the king's service, David was hospitably...

EGLON –
A king of Moab, who overcame the Israelites and captured the "city of palm-trees," by which is probably meant Jericho (Judges iii. 13). He held the Israelites in subjection for eighteen years, and they were then delivered by...

EHUD –
Biblical Data: Second judge of Israel; a Benjamite, the son of Gera. Concealing under his garment a two-edged sword, he carried a present to Eglon, the Moabite king who had held Israel in subjection for eighteen years. After...

ELON –
1.—Biblical Data: The tenth judge of Israel. He was a Zebulonite, and succeeded Ibzan as judge. He judged Israel for ten years, when he died and was buried in Aijalon in the country of Zebulun (Judges xii. 11, 12). "Elon" ( )...

EMIM –
A name applied (Deut. ii. 10) to the original inhabitants of Moab, though the Septuagint reads for it Ομμίν. The name is used (Gen. xiv. 5) to designate also the inhabitants of the plain of Kirjathaim. Here the Septuagint calls...

JEPHTHAH –
Biblical Data: Judge of Israel during six years (Judges xii. 7); conqueror of the Ammonites. According to Judges xi. 1, he was a Gileadite, son of Gilead and a harlot. Driven from his father's house by his father's legitimate...

JERAHMEEL –
Biblical Data: David, while he was a refugee at the court of Achish, King of Gath, is said to have made a raid against the "south of the Jerahmeelites" (I Sam. xxvii. 10) and after his raid to have sent a part of the spoil to...

JOSEPH –
Sold as Slave. —Biblical Data: Eleventh son of Jacob and the elder of the two sons of Rachel; born at Haran (Gen. xxx. 24). The meaning given to the name (l.c.) is "shall add": "The Lord shall add to me another son." It seems...

JUDAH, TRIBE OF –
Territory of Judah. —Biblical Data: The tribe of Judah is said to have been descended from the patriarch Judah, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah (Gen. xxix. 35). In the Book of Numbers it is represented as sharing with the other...

KENITES –
Biblical Data: A tribe of Palestine, mentioned in the time of Abraham as possessing a part of the promised land (Gen. xv. 19). At the Exodus it inhabited the vicinity of Sinai and Horeb; and to it belonged Jethro, the...